First telephone

[PeterR]

Mum worked on the switchboard at Robert Brothers store on the Moor for the three years between leaving the GPO when she married (this was not a choice - only unmarried women allowed) and leaving to have her first baby.

 

Yes, I remember that too!! Different world eh?

[hillsbro]

Often wondered how that worked. How did you dial...

Perhaps at that time you had to ask the operator for the number. The first rotary-dial telephones only date from 1919, and as late as 1967 I went into a 'phone box in Cornwall and was surprised to find a telephone with no dial. You picked up the handset and waited for the operator to answer.

 

Suddenly I feel old.....

[fatrajah]

Scarborough was a manual exchange up to 1970. The phone boxes had a big white button in the centre of the dummy dial; this was for "999" calls. All calls were connected by the operator, even local ones. The manual board must have been quite a size.

Edited February 8, 2015 by fatrajah

[stpetre]

Perhaps at that time you had to ask the operator for the number. The first rotary-dial telephones only date from 1919, and as late as 1967 I went into a 'phone box in Cornwall and was surprised to find a telephone with no dial. You picked up the handset and waited for the operator to answer.

 

Suddenly I feel old.....

 

Then what happened, are you still waiting?

[beechnut]

I guess you waited for the operator to say "Number please". And oddly enough, they were still saying that in Sheffield in the 1970s!

Edited February 8, 2015 by beechnut

[stpetre]

Yes, I remember that too!! Different world eh?

 

Diversifying a little from the main but I think it was a common practise. In fact Bachelors Foods had a rule-at least for office staff- that if you left for whatever reason, you couldn't go back.

[hillsbro]

Then what happened, are you still waiting?

Yes..

[fatrajah]

By the 1970s in Sheffield all local calls could be dialled by subscribers; this had already been the case for many years. Some trunk calls still had to be connected by an operator, but these were a small minority. When the overlay (trunk transit) network was completed in about 1976, all trunk calls could be dialled by the subscriber/customer.

Edited February 8, 2015 by fatrajah

[beechnut]

Yes, in the early 1960s you could dial calls to an area of maybe 10-15 miles around Sheffield (for example, you could direct-dial to Mexborough but not to Doncaster). It was in mid-1970 when Subscriber Trunk Dialling reached Sheffield and it made a big difference. In 1974 it became possible to direct-dial calls from Sheffield to the Continent. But I remember in 1973 I was in the Scottish Highlands and the public telephones there still had no rotary dialling.

[fatrajah]

Yes, in the early 1960s you could dial calls to an area of maybe 10-15 miles around Sheffield (for example, you could direct-dial to Mexborough but not to Doncaster). It was in mid-1970 when Subscriber Trunk Dialling reached Sheffield and it made a big difference. In 1974 it became possible to direct-dial calls from Sheffield to the Continent. But I remember in 1973 I was in the Scottish Highlands and the public telephones there still had no rotary dialling.

 

STD was first available in Sheffield in October 1966, but was only available to subscribers on Sheffield Central exchange. By the end of the 1960s STD was available to to all subscribers in the Sheffield Linked Numbering Scheme apart from those on the obsolescent Woodseats exchange. Woodseats exchange was replaced in 1970 by a crossbar exchange (in the same building) which allowed STD calls.

Edited February 8, 2015 by fatrajah